Chevron first entered China in 1913 when it began selling kerosene for lamps and home heating. In the 1920s, we opened service stations and sales outlets in major Chinese cities, and during the late 1930s, we began marketing petroleum products under the Caltex brand.
In 1979, Chevron was one of the first Western companies to reenter China. Chevron became a partner in one of China's first offshore oil production projects in the Pearl River Delta Mouth Basin of the South China Sea. First discovered in 1985, the Huizhou oil fields came onstream in 1990.
In 2000, Caltex and its partner built a world-class liquefied petroleum gas terminal in Shantou.
Chevron is not new to natural gas exploration in China. We were the first international company to sign a contract with China United Coal Bed Methane Corp. Ltd. to recover coal bed methane in 1998.
In 2007, the company signed a 30-year production-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corporation for the joint development of the Chuandongbei natural gas field in central China.
Chevron participates as one-sixth owner of the Australian North West Shelf Venture liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which won the right to provide natural gas to China's first-ever LNG supply contract. In 2006, the Chevron-operated Northern Swan LNG carrier made the first North West Shelf deliveries to China's first LNG facility, located in Guangdong Province.
Through our joint venture CPChem, we built a $90 million polystyrene plant in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, in 2000.
Development Programs
Chevron provides our local Chinese workforce with many different learning and development opportunities. Courses cover subjects ranging from management and leadership training to communication skills and petroleum industry primers.
Chevron launched a career development program in 2008 in China. Seven positions were made available to university master's degree graduates.
Chevron also extends development programs to our joint venture partners. For example, new employees entering the CNOOC/Agip/Chevron/Texaco (CACT) Operators Group are given hands-on training in order to work effectively and safely. We frequently use employee exchanges to transfer technology and skills to our Chinese partners. Currently, more than 90 percent of all upstream positions in Chevron's China operations are held by Chinese nationals.
In 1985, Chevron began licensing our proprietary Vacuum Residue Desulfurization technology to Sinopec Qilu Petrochemicals in Shandong Province. The technology is used to reduce sulfur content in fuel. This was followed by a hydroprocessing technology license to Sinopec Qilu. Chevron's hydroprocessing technology helps refiners improve the quality and increase the quantity of their base oil production.
Updated: March 2009